My parents had 4-5 of Herb's albums. Good stuff.
Posted on 07/13/2002 4:55:42 PM PDT by Wondervixen
Why has music entertainment gone into the sewer the past 25 years and who is to blame?
Nobody seems to be able to tune in to a music program (short of Country Music Television) without seeing what today's young music executives strive to convince us is "popular music entertainment". In the words of ex-ELO Drummer Bev Bevan, these up and coming manufactured superstars are performing "Rubbish". I tend to agree with him and here's why.
Over the course of Rock & Roll history, it became a classic staple that was added to and subtracted from, but rarely deviated from...A lead guitar...A bass...Keyboards...A set of drums. Those who PLAYED them also sang and I don't think I need to tell you that it took considerable practice to do it well. Walking and chewing gum at the same time is the joke. Singing musicians are where the talent is!
Then, along came Michael Jackson. Sure, the Drifters, Spinners, Temptations, and many other Motown legends performed sans instruments and dazzled audiences with some very cool dance moves, but their vocals were the drawing card. The moves were the icing on the cake.
Then, Jackson splits from his family band and goes solo. The vocals were catchy but the dance moves took attention away from the sound. Youths were imitating the Moon Walk and the strutting around Michael would do (even the crotch grabbing). The shame here is that some idiot in the music industry saw this as the wave of the future because from Michael's moves came New Kids on the Block, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney, Christina, and all the rest of the "Dancing Bears" who dominate music today.
It is no longer imperitave that you have musical talent, just that you're willing to wear the revealing clothes and DANCE, DANCE, DANCE. Voice mixers will straighten out the fact you can't carry a tune in a designer handbag.
Forced to "the reservation" of oldies summer tours are the real talents. Real BANDS like The Eagles, KISS, The Who, Cheap Trick, Doobie Brothers, Electric Light Orchestra, REO Speedwagon, and Styx are all but ignored by contemporary radio and only heard if you're lucky enough to have a good oldies station signal. Kids today have little appreciation for these talented icons of the bygone days of playing your own music. No, they cast their adoration upon the Dancing Bears who likely cannot play a radio.
Like the state of education in this country (ie; the "dumbing down" of our children), we have grown all too accustomed to accepting this laziness in music that now glorifies the least talented while the more talented get paid for hiding in the studio or standing in the dark of the stage providing the Bears the music to dance by.
Shame, shame, shame. At least Nashville and CMT still have it right.
You ever listen to that murderous theiving so called music it was only a matter of time before it affected the industry that created it theres no respect for life in the music itself and there are so many bands and artists that could be great bands but they choose the path of the DO DO these images create and mold the minds of millions of children its a shame they cant create music that upholds life insteqad of trying to put a cap in it or uphold the vows of marriage instead of trying to breed with anything that walks
If you dont think rap has changed the industry for the bad look at any 13 year old kid who listens to it !
REMEMBER what this generation tolerates the next generation accepts
So get ready for the next wave of degenerates to invade your home and twist your kids mind [JMHO]
Ahhh, yes, MTV...Madonna Television.
If there has ever been a bigger whore to the recording industry, I cannot think of who it might be. There's nothing sadder (or funnier) than the fall she's due to take when children finally start looking at her like we would our mothers trying to stay up with the 18 year old set...Coolness is a fleeting thing & it's one of the fastest to disappear. It can be gone in the bat of an eye. Just ask any parent of a twelve year old on the kid's thirteenth birthday.
It's coming, just you watch.
Emmy Lou Harris made a pitch for PETA during the concert. She was soundly booed. PETA's world HQ is located in Norfolk, VA, right across the river from where the concert was being held. The local populace didn't need to hear a PETA pitch from her to know what they were about. She was the only performer that made a pitch the whole evening.
My thoughts exactly as I scrolled through the thread. LOL
In some ways, I think music is becoming more challenging and interesting. The emergence of punk in the mid-seventies (whether you agreed with its politics or not), at about the time the writer states that things were beginning to fall apart, re-energized the scene, IMHO. It opened the way for indie bands, which helped re-establish the singer/songwriter. Remember that we had a movie soundtrack of old-timey music nab a bunch of grammys in 2002, including album of the year.
Dancing isn't even that important anymore, just looking good on MTV and making videos. Hip-hop and rap are starting to dominate, something I hate. Anyway, as one of the younger generation, I'm closer to what's popular than most of you guys, and I don't like what I see on the charts. Take a look at the Billboard top ten.
#1 Hot in Herre by Nelly. Lousy hip hop.
#2 Eminem. No need to say anything.
#3 Hero, by Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott. Theme song to the Spiderman movie. BTW, loved the movie. The song is pretty good, but not this good.
#4 Complicated by Avril Lavigne. I actually like this one. It's pop, but she and her band actually play their own instruments and she writes her own music.
#5 I need a girl (part 2). A hip hop collaberation.
#6 Oh, boy. Cam'ron featuring Juelz Santana. Rap. On MTV they cut out swearing in the videos. This one has half the words cut out.
#7 The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. Another pop song.
#8 A thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton. At least she plays piano and doesn't move from her chair in the video. And she writes her own music, but I find this song boring.
#9 Foolish by Ashanti. This song was #1 for several weeks. Ashanti is an example of how MTV and music video can be more important than vocal range. She has ZERO vocal range, but she had three top ten singles at once, first artist since the BEATLES to do that! I hate to use the two in the same sentance.
#10 I'm gonna be alright by Jennifer Lopez. Typical J Lo.
Anyway, that's the top ten right now and there's one song on there that I really like. I guess I'm not in line with what teenagers are supposed to like. That's okay. I even like the Beatles. But anyway, music videos and MTV are more important in many cases than your vocal, musical, and lyrical talent. If you toss together something about a girl, throw in a lot of swearing and add a hip-hop beat and you'll instantly get MTV airplay and have a top 40 hit. At least Britney Spears hasn't had a hit in a while.
My parents had 4-5 of Herb's albums. Good stuff.
FM Radio actually did have much to do with a lot of the crap that's out today. In the past, DJ's had free reign over what they could play. However, guys like Lee Abrams came along and ruined that and began polling(remember that dirty word?) listeners likes, dislikes, and buying habits....boom TOP 40 was born, and The DJ was spinning what the advertisers were telling him/her to spin not what was in his own record collection. More importantly, how often do you ever remember the name of a band who sang a tune these days from the radio? Dj's never ID the artists anymore, b/c it takes more ad time.
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